Greenland - a geopolitical space on the global chess board?

[thorbiorn]

Some notes on the Greenland development.

Denmark generally supports the US
Having looked at the European engagement in the Iraq war, Denmark was helped mobilize support, The PM at the time later became Nato Secretary General.
It was also helpful networking and supporting for Nato expansion, to get the Baltic States and and Poland into NATO, later Sweden and Finland.
Denmark also helped with Ukraine. The picture in the parliament was 173 members with one who voting no later left the parliament. Massive support or silence, abstention and absence. They can discuss for months if some comparatively small infrastructure project should go ahead, have a few protests or some strike for the nurses to get a little more, back and forth, but Ukraine? The numbers speak:
From the Kiel Institute:

Some headlines
The EU is addicted to American economic punishment Opinion, RT Jan 21

The bloc’s dependence on US natural gas is reportedly on its way to 80%

Putin says who owns Greenland is of no concern to Russia, says it might be worth $1 billion Jan 22, in Jerusalem Post from Reuters

Using the price at which Russia sold Alaska to the US as a reference and accounting for price adjustments, Putin said buying Greenland from Denmark could cost around $1 billion.

Denmark always treated Greenland ‘like a colony’ – Putin RT Jan 22

Note: What Russian thinks of Greenland, rarely gets reported in the Danish press, though some officials probably know.​

‘I’m not gonna pay anything’ – Trump on Greenland RT Jan 22
US expects Greenland resources as compensation for ‘protection’ – Vance RT Jan 23
Does Russia need Greenland’s resources? EXPLAINER RT Jan 24 Guess what? No!
European politicians ‘unable to withstand’ Trump’s pressure – Peskov RT Jan 25

The US president’s methods do not quite align with Russia’s approach to a multipolar world, the Kremlin spokesman has said

Russia and US won’t talk to EU’s Kallas – Kremlin RT Jan 26

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused the bloc’s leadership of incompetence
[...]
In an interview with Russia-1 journalist Pavel Zarubin which aired on Sunday, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman described the current EU leadership as “incompetent,” adding that its actions “undermine the system of international relations.”

“How can you discuss anything with Kaja Kallas? Neither we will ever discuss anything with her, nor will the Americans, and this is obvious. We can only wait until she leaves,” Peskov said.

He argued that Brussels was packed with “semi-literate, incompetent functionaries who are unable to look into the future or understand the realities of today.”

Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, is known for repeatedly calling for tougher sanctions on Russia and increased military support for Ukraine. Last year, she dismissed US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for peace between Russia and Ukraine, arguing that territorial concessions to Moscow would be “a trap that Putin wants us to walk into.”

More recently, Kallas has criticized Trump’s plans to annex Greenland, saying transatlantic relations had “taken a big blow” as a result of his policies.
[...]

Kallas is an outstanding example, but are the people in most EU countries including the Danish Government much better?
If one thinks of how the Scandinavian politicians helped the Baltics to get on board, then it is not a great development for the US. It could indicate that some people will tone down their infatuation with the US if not the Western project. Danish tourism to the US has dropped so much that tour agents are stunned. About two % of the population has joined an FB group Boycott goods from the USA

Opposition or acceptance?
Denmark has two national anthems, one is about the beauty of nature of the land where the ancestors moved around. The other references a war effort against Sweden, so there is a tendency to create unity by rallying around opposition to an enemy, but not only.

Denmark is one of only two countries in the world—the other being New Zealand—with two official national anthems of equal status. Officially, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast is both a national and a royal anthem; it has equal status with Der er et yndigt land, which is treated as the civil national anthem. At sports events and other civil events, Der er et yndigt land is the one played.

Rallying against a perceived enemy is perhaps what is going on in the next satire made by the Danish public radio Danmarks Radio channel 3. I think they have made it inclusive by selecting the two main actors, a satire video with mixed reviews

From Syrian Girl

Well there is an old idea of Giving Greenland to the Palestinians, from a comedy that ran in 2002:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2014201920689455558

One Danish paper had this drawing:

And Rutte strikes back:
EU can’t defend itself without US – NATO chief 26 Jan, 2026 20:22

Those in the bloc who think otherwise can “keep dreaming,” Mark Rutte has told the European Parliament

Rutte is mentioned in an opinion piece from the small Danish media, Arbejderen.dk. They review history and conclude that things are likely to turn out as they usually do. Translated from Danish with various apps there is:

Danish backroom deal about Greenland
Not many days ago, the streets of Denmark's largest cities were filled with Greenlandic flags and crowds demonstrating for Greenlanders' right to decide in their own country.

That struggle continues on a daily basis, and here it is worth remembering that Denmark and the Danish government have a long-standing tradition of making secret agreements with the Americans without both the Greenlandic and Danish populations.

One example is the Thule base, where 127 Greenlanders were forcibly relocated at a few days' notice to make room for the American military base in 1953.

The base was a result of the agreement between Denmark and the United States from 1951, which gave the Americans free rein to establish themselves militarily on the island. That agreement was also made without the Greenlanders themselves.

The Americans used the Thule base to store and transport nuclear weapons in violation of Danish law, which the Danish government kept hidden from both Greenlanders and Danes.

When an American bomber with nuclear weapons crashed in 1968, the radiation danger was therefore also kept hidden for years from both the local population and the workers who were assigned to clean up after the accident – with fatal injuries as a result.

In 2008, it was revealed that the CIA flew prisoners of war through Greenlandic airspace and made a stopover on the island on their way to places where the suspects were subjected to illegal torture.

In all the cases, Danish top politicians have allowed the United States to do everything they asked for, and then lied to their own people.

Therefore, it is quite possible that Lars Løkke and company are still ready to sell or give Greenland to Trump under the table, as long as they do not have to formally relinquish territory or sovereignty. As long as the formal commonwealth exists, there is a broad framework. This is how Danish governments have traded with the island for decades without petty regard for democracy, Greenlandic sovereignty or international law.

The attack on the Danish Realm – which is now mostly called the Kingdom – has gotten the normally so compliant government politicians out of their chairs. Here we have sent young Danes to their deaths for years to please the United States, and is this the thank you, it sounds with righteous indignation.

When they sent Denmark to war together with the United States, the justification was that the Danish soldiers should fight for freedom and democracy and not just to strategically link us to the United States, but now the politicians can speak more freely.

The problem is that Donald Trump has ruined the good atmosphere by openly claiming the island in the possession of the United States under his own flag. It is an awkward break with the tact and tone that usually prevails discretely between Washington and Copenhagen.

Trump himself says that the ownership of Greenland is not only about defensive weapons, but also about offensive weapons that can be aimed at the rest of the world with the so-called Golden Dome.

It can only be understood as a direct threat to America's rivals and to world peace. Trump will be able to attack others without being hit himself. It does not increase the security of Denmark or Greenland, but on the contrary makes the island a strategic military target.

NATO's sleazy Secretary General Mark Rutte has apparently made a deal with Trump outside Greenland, an agreement that was supposed to be about bases, territory and the extraction of minerals. A blatant attack on the Greenlanders' self-determination, which should be strongly condemned from all sides, not least the Danish government. That has not happened.

The so-called agreement helps to put Greenlanders under even more inhuman pressure to open their land and subsoil to US supremacy and interests.

They still need our support so as not to be sacrificed in the games of the great powers. Not least in view of the shenanigans and hidden agreements of successive Danish governments.

The above article is good news for those who support the policies of the Trump administration. It is also good news for the Danes who would prefer to continue as if nothing has happened. For others who already have noticed a pattern, they can be confirmed in their understanding. One day one might even find an article arguing that the way the Danish Government relates to the US is reminiscent of how the Danish Government interacted with the German Government of the early 1940s. Readers of such an article might then ask if that is different from being guided by NATO requirements, or by un-elected EU officials, NGOs, London shadow bankers, Zionists, or still deeper levels of the World Government?

"They still need our support", wrote the Danish article. They might be right, though not as they imagine:

Great business in other words, or:

Business as usual
Scott Ritter has a comment on his Substack. The background is that he drove leisurely through America and learned something. Now he does not think the US can do much better in Greenland, than what is there already, or better than it has done in other places.

Don't Drink the Water
The United States seeks to impose its will on the people of Greenland. Many are shocked by this flagrant disregard for issues of sovereignty. But as history shows, it is just business as usual.
Scott Ritter Jan 18, 2026

And what is the business?
China Xinhua News has a perspective, which reminds one of the videos that have circulated about Ukrainian President, Zelensky, but this context is different:

@XHNews
Jan 14
Getting High on #Hegemony#US #Venezuela #Iran #Greenland #Imperialism

Trump happens to be the one trying to do what he might have been told to do, and he does it his way. This post has:

I just noticed the first post was on Jan 16, 2025. What will the status be in one year from now?